Fred Schneider

Fred Schneider

Fred Schneider (born Fred Schneider III on July 1, 1951 in Newark, New Jersey) is best known as the frontman of the rock band The B-52's, of which he is a founding member.

Schneider is well-known for his sprechstimme.

Schneider is openly gay.

Solo career

Fred Schneider released two solo music albums, but neither of these albums were as successful as any of the albums created by The B-52's:

• Fred Schneider & the Shake Society (1984 and 1991)
• Just Fred (1996), which was produced by Steve Albini.

Collaborations

• He sang with Sleater-Kinney in a Hedwig and the Angry Inch tribute cover of "Angry Inch."
• He sang with Richard Barone on Barone's 1990 album, Primal Dream (MCA). Richard also co-wrote two songs and arranged on Just Fred.
• He was a guest vocalist on the song National Anthem Of Love, on Joe McIntyre's album Meet Joe Mac.
• He worked with Sophie Ellis-Bextor on some songs for her album Trip the Light Fantastic. A song which he worked on and provided vocals for called "Supersonic" appeared on he UK and AU version of her album.
• He was a guest vocalist on the song The Power of Pussy, on Bongwater's 1990 album of the same name.
• He worked with the Foo Fighters on the song Planet Claire - he provided the vocals.
• He worked with Captain Planet on the "Eco Rap," an updated theme song used for The New Adventures of Captain Planet.

Filmography

Films in which Fred Schneider has appeared include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Trekkies 2 (2004)
• Each Time I Kill (2002)
• Godass (2000)
• Desert Blue (1998, voice only)
• The Rugrats Movie (1998, voice only)
• The Flintstones (1994)
• Hangfire (1991)
• A Matter of Degrees (1990)
• Funny (1989)
• Athens, GA.: Inside/Out (1987)
• One Trick Pony (1980)
• He is credited in the Nickelodeon cartoon Rocko's Modern Life for the theme song vocals.
• He was a guest on an episode of Space Ghost Coast to Coast.

Radio

• Schneider hosts a show called Party Out Of Bounds that airs Friday nights, 9pm to 12am (ET) on Sirius 22 First Wave. On the show, Schneider plays a mix of new wave-era dance, remixes and rarities, interspersed with Schneider's own humorous bits and anecdotes.

Bibliography

• In 1975/1976, Fred Schneider personally hand-wrote approximately 100 copies of a short book of his poems entitled Bleb.
• In 1987, Fred Schneider wrote a paperback book of mostly poetry entitled Fred Schneider and Other Unrelated Works, which was published by Arbor House, New York. The book is approximately 96 pages and out of print. It was illustrated by Kenny Scharf, who also did the cover art for The B-52's 1986 album Bouncing Off the Satellites. Approximately 6000 copies were printed.